Top 10 Science-Related Cannabis Stories for 2011

[RainDog]

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/drug-law/top-ten-cannabis-science-stories-2011

Here are a few of them:

8. Two-thirds of patients surveyed substitute marijuana for prescription medications

7. Oxycontin is five times the “gateway drug” as marijuana

6. Drug testing is still unreliable, inaccurate, unnecessary, invasive, and counter-productive

5. For past two years, more Americans arrested for marijuana than all other drugs combined despite arrest protection for America’s One Million Legal Marijuana Users

When somebody mentions “The War on Drugs”, remind them what we’re really talking about is a “War on Marijuana”.

Nationally, there were 1,638,846 drug arrests reported to the FBI, with 52.1% of those arrests for marijuana charges. Last year, 51.6% of all drug arrests were for marijuana, showing a slight increase in marijuana as the majority of all drug arrests. The last time marijuana made up a majority of the “War on Drugs” was 1985, when 55.6% of all drug arrests were for marijuana.

Keep in mind that these annual marijuana arrests continue to climb even as we reduce the number of marijuana users eligible for arrest in the medical marijuana state, users who grow and use the most marijuana.

Between one to one-and-a-half million people are legally authorized by their state to use marijuana in the United States, according to data compiled by NORML from state medical marijuana registries and patient estimates. Assuming usage of one-half to one gram of cannabis medicine per day per patient and an average retail price of $320 per ounce, these legal consumers represent a $2.3 to $6.2 billion dollar market annually.

I included the text of this last one to demonstrate to those who want to claim arrest for possession is no longer an issue in the U.S. Even with medical marijuana, more people were arrested on marijuana-related charges in the U.S. than at any time since Ronald Reagan was in office and moved from "It's no one's business if they choose to use cannabis" to "Cannabis is dangerous and not an issue of personal freedom while driving without a motorcycle helmet must be protected as an important infringement of liberty." (If you wonder about why that quote - check out "Quote/Unquote" in the Drug Policy Forum.)

more at the link above...

[bhikkhu]

1. ...a good graphic of the arrest numbers:

from http://norml.org/take-action/webmasters/item/arrest-charts

I'm not so much in favor of legalization (don't smoke, don't like smoke) but I think the government - squeezed as it is for resources - should have better things to spend its scarce money on.

[RainDog]

2. Wow! that's great!

thank you so much.

I agree - what a waste of time, money and human resources to go after people for this issue.

this graph shows this waste and the way that the Clinton, Bush Jr. and Obama administrations have ramped up this issue - sad to say that Democrats do this - but they do.

If Democrats complained to Democratic pols about this waste, maybe we'd see some traction.

[RainDog]

3. One of the most telling stories was the National Cancer Institute scrubbing info on cannabis.

this was what was published online on March 17:

The potential benefits of medicinal Cannabis for people living with cancer include antiemetic effects, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and improved sleep. In the practice of integrative oncology, the health care provider may recommend medicinal Cannabis not only for symptom management but also for its possible direct antitumor effect.

after pressure from some source, the National Cancer Institute removed the antitumor information:

The potential benefits of medicinal Cannabis for people living with cancer include antiemetic effects, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and improved sleep. Though no relevant surveys of practice patterns exist, it appears that physicians caring for cancer patients who prescribe medicinal Cannabis predominantly do so for symptom management.

http://coloradoindependent.com/81475/first-federal-agency-to-acknowledge-medical-marijuana-removes-anti-tumor-information-from-database

...even tho that antitumor information has shown up in various early studies for various cancers.

Here's a copy of the original post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/117030

[Scuba]

9. +1

[Quantess]

4. Here's a kick for you tokers

I hate weed myself but it's great for sick people.

[RainDog]

10. thanks

you don't need to be a toker to recognize bad law when it exists.

[Capitalocracy]

11. I hate cigarettes...

but I would certainly hate to see them start throwing people in jail for smoking them.

[RainDog]

12. exactly

I understand why people have issues with smoke in closed spaces - but I don't understand why people cannot choose to open a bar, for instance, that is "smokers only." Or that indicates anyone who chooses to go there does so at his or her own risk.

I understand the health issues - but we as a govt are not supposed to be in the biz of creating a society in which everyone must wear a mental bike helmet.

I don't agree with a lot of things people do, think, say, etc. But I don't think it's my business of stop them from doing those things.

[Capitalocracy]

13. Well, there are also the employees to think about in a smoking environment

I don't mind laws restricting smoking indoors... cigarettes or marijuana, I would never expose someone to marijuana smoke that wasn't interested in it... but I think people should think about it this way: whether you like marijuana or not, it's less harmful than cigarettes, objectively, scientifically, indisputably. And maybe you don't even know anyone who smokes weed, but imagine if they dealt with cigarettes the same way they do marijuana, how many innocent people, friends and family, could end up in jail.

[Quantess]

14. A very dear person who was dying requested medical marijuana

and his doctor refused. What a sanctimonious jerk!
We managed to get some for him, anyway, but it was a bit late at that point.

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, RainDog.

[RainDog]

6. Nice to see you, as always!

...smurf hater...

[Uncle Joe]

7. Likewise, Smurf enabler.

On a serious note, if you haven't seen this video you need to check it out, 49 minutes long but a must see!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002148198

Peace to you, RainDog.

[RainDog]

8. Saw that - thanks for the link here!

that vid concentrates a lot of good information in a short (comparatively) format. good work.